Narlan Matos translated by Sally Perret
TWO POEMS BY NARLAN MATOS
translated by Sally Perret
Post-Columbians
barely
just barely
the Indians
of the Americas
failed to
christianize
the conquering
Europeans
the Europeans
conquering
barely
just barely
the Indians
of the Americas
failed to
christianize
barely,
just barely
Enchanted Verses from La Havana
i write verses
like one who walks at dawn down the calles of La Havana
and sees magnolia trees pouring over walls
materialized as if they were starfish
all around green branches guard them from the darkness
other silent white flowers observe them
i write verses
like one who strums a gypsy guitar in the Plaza de España in Seville
on an afternoon where a tree battles the slow wind like a bullfighter
and a flamenco dancer makes birds with her hands
(beneath their cool shade poetry sleeps)
i write verses
like one who reads Florbela Espanca on a farm in Lisboa
resting between the ivory white of the city and the red sun
in a tavern at a table next to a bottle of red wine
i discover and fall in love with the muse and the breeze and the salty sea
at the end of the beach awaiting sailors that never left
i write verses
like an awake Chilean island waits for a shipwreck
like silver spoons under the Madrid morning sun
the mistrust of liberty before a flowery field
like one who sees with his soul and no longer needs eyes
i write verses
like one who is suddenly born like one who sees Andalusia
like one who plays with the light on the skin of things
like the wind whispering to the port and the white sails
like one who searches for sirens and treasures lost at sea
i write verses
like lovers driven insane by beauty burn one afternoon in Andorra
like those that commit suicide at dawn in the carriage of the unspeakable
without a letter or suicide note
i write verses
like one who commits a crime and awaits punishment from the gods
translated by Sally Perret from Narlan Matos'
"Versos encantados desde la Habana" and "Pós-Colombianos"